A day later, Piyoon left the house to visit Jungkook. She didn't tell anyone of where she was heading so she left in secrecy. It was difficult to speak with Riley about him when Jimin and Suga were around. He was the only who understood her or at least, never judged her. Jimin on the other hand, she wasn't so sure about. They did meet ends but then again, he was still in his ‘nice’ phases of his personality changes. She didn't know when he was going to burst again so she didn't want to risk it.

After one bus ride, she got off and walked a short distance to the facility Jungkook resided. There was no one at the front desk and it seemed like there was no one in general. At first, it seemed odd that there was no one in site except for the receptionist the first couple times she visited. There was no bell for her to ring so she headed towards the elevator. There was only one elevator and it seemed to be going up so she opted for the stairs. On the second floor, there was an empty pool, an empty gym, and an empty cafeteria. There was not a single Sapphire or human in sight. Brushing off the odd sensation, she ascended the stairs. This time, there were rooms down the hall. She didn't even know what room or floor Jungkook was in but the idea of trying to find him was pushed back when she got the same ominous feeling back on the second floor. As quietly as possible, she crept down the hall, trying to keep her ears open for any kind of sound.

Then, she heard a door unlock. In panic, she looked around for a hiding place. She quickly ran behind the corner of the hallway and waited for that person to pass by. When she did, Piyoon closed her eyes and looked the other way, in hopes she wouldn't notice her and she didn't. The lady passed by her without noticing and when Piyoon peeked around the corner, she recognized her as the receptionist. She waited for her to disappear behind the elevator doors before she walked towards the room the receptionist was just in.

For the first time, she noticed that the resident's name was printed off on a slip of paper and pasted on the door. To her surprise, the room she was just in was Jungkook's room. She immediately turned the handle and it opened. Oddly enough, it wasn't locked. Slowly, she pushed the door open and stepped in, taking a look around. It was just like a small apartment; nothing abnormal about it.

"Jungkook?" she called. Stepping in further, she noticed the apartment had a small living room area with a TV but there was nothing else. "Piyoon?" She jumped when she heard her name and looked to her left to see Jungkook standing in front of her. "What are you doing here?" he whispered. He grabbed her arm and pulled her into his bedroom. He made her sit down on his bed and knelt on one knee in front of her. "You shouldn't be here! What if you got caught?"

"Caught?" she questioned. "Jungkook, what is going on here? It feels like there's not a single soul in here. It's practically abandoned!" Before he could say a word, the front door rattled. It was a good thing she locked the door behind her in case that receptionist came back. Jungkook opened his closet door and ushered her to hide in there. "Be quiet," he said once she got in. He shut the closet door and rushed to the door. Before he unlocked it, he placed the palm of his hand against his temple and scrunched up his face as if he was in pain.

The door opened and revealed a confused receptionist. She clearly left the door unlocked and wanted to question him but when she saw Jungkook, she became angry. "What's wrong?" she asked.

"I-I don't know. Clara, what happened? I feel horrible."

She sighed. "Get to bed. Have you been taking your pills?" From the closet, Piyoon frowned, overhearing the conversation. What pills was she talking about? Why would a Sapphire need any pills? She stiffened when she heard the two enter the bedroom.

Jungkook sat down on the bed while Clara fished out another couple of pills from her blazer pocket. She gave it to him and she watched as he swallowed it dry. "Remember, if you take these pills your wish of finding a Forever Human will come true. Instead of a syringe, these pills carry small amounts of microbugs that will get rid of the title 'Deregistered' so you'll be nice and clean for your new human." The Sapphire nodded drowsily. "Good, now get in bed. No need to see me out. I'll lock the door for you."

He watched her as she left his room and when he heard her lock the door, he quickly opened the closet. "Are you alright?" he asked, giving her a hand. He pulled her out of the closet and closed it. "What was the pill she was talking about?" Piyoon asked, getting straight to the point.

He spat out the pills that he was given on his palm and showed her. They were red, circular pills. "She comes by every week to give me these." He walked into the living room and she followed. He lifted up the seat of the couch, revealing a pile of red pills that he hadn't taken, adding the ones he had into the pile. "The first day I arrived here, I took the pills. She didn't really explain in detail what the pills were for. I took it, knowing it would help me sleep. I was suspicious about it because Sapphires can't absorb anything we digest. Then, the day I met you Clara asked me what our relationship was so I told her you're my friend and that you had no idea I was a Sapphire, just in case. After that, she explained to me what you heard just now about the pills. Usually, abandoned Sapphires would be all over that explanation but I had none of it. Starting last month I've been stashing the pills under the couch."

"So, she's been giving you those pills to get prepped as a…a brand new Sapphire?" she asked.

"I don't know about that." Then, he remembered something. "Actually, this was a couple weeks ago. I was going to go out when the Sapphire who lived across from me came out at the same time. That one is really friendly so I was surprised he hadn't said hello to me. It seemed like he was a zombie. I didn't really think of it much during the time but now I think these pills do more than what they tell us."

"But that doesn't explain why there is absolutely no one downstairs."

"These pills make us drowsy, meaning it's being absorbed by our bodies. Once every week, the whole building is silent because everyone is sleep. I'm surprised you even found your way up here."

"Yeah...it wasn't easy. So what are you going to do now? Are you gonna leave this place? You should have left the place once you felt something was wrong!"

He placed one finger against his lips to shush her. "I know, I should have but I was curious. This place isn't what it's supposed to be."

"Of course not! Your human was a hunter, what did you expect? He tricked you."

Jungkook's expression went somber. "He's not a bad guy. He must've told me to come here on false information."

"He's a hunter. No hunter is good," she stated.

"Piyoon...can we please not?"

"Not what? Care about you? Worry about you? Jungkook, this place is dangerous! You can't stay here any longer. I won't let you."

"Piyoon, please. I want to. What if other Sapphires were sent here on false information and what if they also take the pill? I want to know what this place is all about."

"You're just a Sapphire, okay?" she stressed. "Although you're different from the rest, you're just one Sapphire. What can you do? Let's say you do find you something about this place. Then what? Will you call up the government and have them investigate? You can but no one will believe you because you're just an abandoned Sapphire."

"...don't I have you?" he asked, almost in a whisper.

She paused, her features softening. "You do, Jungkook. That's why you should stop. Don't be curious - you're going to get hurt."

He shook his head. He was being very stubborn. "I won't. You know what? This is for the best. You should concentrate on your own life and meet your Sapphire."

"Why do you always talk about my Sapphire? You are my Sapphire!"

"You are just my friend. You're not my human and I'll never be your Sapphire," he stressed. Her heart felt heavy. Was that what he thought of her? Just a friend? She risked her relationship with her family and lied to them, believing he would be more than just a friend. She tried to think up of different scenarios and plans so he could someday be her Sapphire but he only thought of her as a friend? It disheartened her and he could feel it as he paused and searched her eyes. "Think about it. Are you able to kill yours to have me registered?" She didn't answer. "Let me do this. I promise I won't get hurt, as long as you don't come here anymore. It's dangerous."

Knowing that she'll be here all day long to argue, she decided to stop. As much as she wanted to stop him for doing something ridiculous, he was right. He wasn't something she could control and as a friend, she had to respect his decision, even if it was a stupid idea. He's strong, she convinced herself. She walked towards the door and said, "You better not injure yourself. If you do, I'll never forgive myself for walking out."

After sneaking out of the building, Shownu decided to call her so she ran further away from the building to answer her phone. On the day he appeared at her house, he managed to get her phone number, no matter how many times she told him she was perfectly fine. Although he knew that quite well, asking for her safety was only an excuse to grab her number. They hadn't seen each other or talked to each other during exam month because it was quite busy and stressful. But now that school is over with, he had an excuse to call her.

"What are you doing?" Shownu asked after she answered.

"Why?"

"Let's meet. It's been a while since I saw you."

"I don't think we have that kind of relationship to meet outside of school," she stated. "I'll see you when school starts."

"I'll come over then. I'll introduce myself to your family. Don't think I won't." Although he spoke in monotone, she knew he was being serious so she made an excuse. "I don't feel good today."

"Are you sick? I'll come over. I'm good with sick people."

"It's not that. I don't feel well. I had a bad day."

"All the more to meet up. I'm good with making people laugh."

"I just want to stay home."

"Piyoon, no matter what your excuse, I'm still going to see you today. It's your call on whether to meet me outside or at your house."

In an hour, they met up at a burger joint. She had arrived first and waited for him at a booth. As she was waiting, her mind wandered off to that organization. She couldn't even call it that anymore. It was more like a jail for Sapphires. She didn't understand why he wanted to continue to stay there. He was going to let himself get hurt and if he really had a connection with her, he would have understood that by being there makes her very anxious. She was such in deep thoughts that she hadn't realized Shownu arrived. He sat down across from her and watched her in amusement. He wondered what she was thinking about that she hadn't even noticed him so he just waited until she would but then he started noticing her.

First, he trailed her line of vision to her hands that were clasped together. She had long, slender fingers with one simple ring on her left index. Then, his eyes trailed up taking in her sense of fashion, which was in his opinion, simple. His eyes continued to trail up from the tip end of her hair to her chin, to her lips, cheeks, nose, eyes. What he didn't expect was her eyes looking straight at him. His heart almost jumped out of his chest from the shock and a blush crept up his neck from the embarrassment.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

"W-what are you doing?" he asked. "You were staring at your hands the whole time."

"You were staring at me the whole time," she shot back, which made his face grow redder.

"You want just a burger right? I'll pay." He got up and escaped before his face could turn into a tomato. When he got back, she was once again, in her own thoughts so he slammed the tray down on the table to get her attention but her reaction was slow. She looked at him before she looked at the tray and straightened up on her seat.

He scoffed, taking his seat. "Are you alright? You seem out of it today."

"...can I ask you a personal question?" she asked as he opened his burger.

"How personal is it?"

"Pretty personal."

"Are you going to ask about my life? Because-" he wasn't able to continue when she hit his leg from underneath the table for his inappropriate comment. He scratched his leg with his foot at her attempt to hurt him. "Fine, ask."

"You have to answer though. You can't tell me you don't want to talk about it."

He raised his brow. "How personal is this?"

"I already answered."

"Okay, fine. I'll answer you properly."

"...why did you abandon your Sapphire?"

Shownu continued to eat his burger, ask he answered, "I already told you that one time. They're not my style."

"But what do you mean by that? There must be a reason why you don't like them. I mean, Sapphires were made generations ago. Your parents and possibly your ancestors must have had them so why do you not think of them as anything useful? They don't have to be a tool. Are you religious?"

"I don't believe in destiny," he answered, denying her assumption. "I don't believe a robot, or whatever they are, can be a friend just like I don't believe animals can be a human's friend. I don't believe they should ever exist. It makes human kind much more complicated."

"I don't have friends," she stated out of nowhere, which made him scoff. He sipped his drink and replied, "I didn't say anything. Hurry up and eat."

"You don't any friends."

"I do," he argued. "I'm not like you."

"Then why did you tell me to eat with you? Why did you show up at my front door and why were you so adamant in having me in your life? You say you have friends but you chose me. We're total opposites. Do you have a motive?" Then, she narrowed her eyes at him. "If you're like Namjoon, I'll-"

"I told you, I'm not like him. Haven't you ever thought that I just wanted to be your friend? Like you said, you don't have any friends so why can't I be one? I don't know what Namjoon did but-"

"He pretended to be a friend," she answered, cutting in the middle of his sentence.

"...okay, point taken. But I'm not pretending to be your friend. I want to be your friend. And before you even ask me why, my answer is just because."

"Just because?" she asked with her brow raised. "You want to be my friend just because?"

"I don't have a reason not to be your friend. You're neither a Sapphire nor an animal. That fits my criteria."

"Sure. But why me? You, out of nowhere began to pester me when I had no clue who you were until you pointed it out. You kept bothering me, even when I told you to go away!"

It was his turn to raise his brow. "Did you really mean it when you said you don't have friends?" She nodded. "What about your old friends?"

"I never had friends." She took her first bite of her burger. "Plus, there are many people in our class. I'm sure you're not friends with all of them. Why not just leave me alone when I asked and befriend other people?"

"Because you kept telling me to go away! For the first time, a girl didn't fall for my charms." He said it in a joking manner but she thought he was serious. She scoffed in disbelief and rolled her eyes. "Your ego is huge and the girls you've been trying to befriend were just trying to get into your pants."

"Piyoon! What the hell!" he blushed. "There are children in this area."

She shrugged. "You're the one shouting," she pointed. He took a sip of his drink and set it down before commenting, "I didn't know you were so blunt."

She paused, her fry rested on her lips for a second before going into . "I didn't know either..."

"Anyway, the more you push me away, the more I try to get closer to you. Seriously Piyoon, get over the fact that I'm going to be your friend no matter what you say."

"You're so full of yourself."

He sighed. "Just eat."

That night Piyoon couldn't sleep. She couldn't stop thinking about Jungkook. She allowed him to leave without holding him back because she thought he would be safe but now that she found out everything, how could she sleep without worrying? She kept tossing and turning and eventually she decided to go downstairs to grab something to eat. Maybe a late night snack would help her calm down from the jittery nerves that tingled down her body. Something was bound to happen and she could feel it.

She grabbed a glass of milk and popped it in the microwave to warm it and grabbed some cookies from the pantry. While it was warming up, she sat down at the dining table and rested her head down on the surface.

"Piyoon?" She looked up to see Suga. "What are you doing here?" As he was heading towards her, the microwave beeped so he took the glass out. He stared at it before he placed it in front of her. “You shouldn’t microwave glass cups. Use a coffee cup next time.”

She shrugged before sitting up and opening the box of oatmeal cookies. "I was hungry," she answered before taking a sip of her milk and bite of her cookie. He watched her as she ate her snack with his cheek resting on his palm as he propped his elbow on the table. She didn't mind his presence and continued to eat. In fact, she was very comfortable with him, which did make her uneasy because she was more comfortable with him than her own parents.

"What's bothering you?" he asked when she finished her glass of milk.

"Nothing," she answered simply.

"You can't lie to me like that when the whole night you had this aura of regret. Tell me. You can trust me," he encouraged.

She sighed and contemplated whether she should tell him or not. For the month he's been living there, she kept him in the dark. No matter how hectic her exam schedule was, she couldn't brush off the guilt of lying. Actually, she thought she was going to spill the truth much earlier and the fact that she held it off was a feat. “Maybe by telling him he would be able to help Jungkook,” she concluded.

She took a breath. "First off, I'm very sorry. I knew you were in the cave but I ran away. I was scared because honestly...I already had a Sapphire by my side." She looked at him for a reaction. He didn't have one at all. His expression was blank so she didn't know how to translate that but continued anyway. "There was an abandoned Sapphire; I thought he was my Sapphire because when I met him, there was this tug. We both felt something so he posed as my Sapphire in front of my parents. He left a week later because of the guilt he carried. Honestly, it felt like a huge part of me was missing when he left, meaning we had a bigger connection with each other than we originally thought. Later on, we even shared dreams and that was when we figured things were getting more complicated. We figured fate might have messed with me and sent me two Sapphires. I wanted to know who the right one is so I decided to find you. I'm sorry to say that if I never knew of the mixed fate theory, I would have never met you and left you at the cave. I'm also sorry for even keeping you in the dark about this for so long and for using you. It really hurt my conscious to hide it from you so I'm telling you now and I'm sorry again that it took so long to confess. It doesn't mean I'm going to kick you out of the house though! I would never!" she said frantically, afraid he would get the wrong idea.

Looking away, she continued. "I knew what my responsibilities were when I decided to bring you home. I just wanted to delay registering you until I could get my answer but the fact that I feel so comfortable with you means you are my Sapphire. But I can't get that other Sapphire out of my head. I guess the guilt is what cheating feels like."

Suga watched her speak with shock at first. He had never heard of a human having some kind of connection with two Sapphires, yet alone an abandoned one. When she started apologizing, his shock washed away and was replaced with concern and confusion. First of all, why would a human apologize to a Sapphire? From what he heard, it should have been the other way around so why did she bother to apologize and explain herself? He felt her presence the first time but didn't really question the reason why she ran away. Actually, he didn't even know she ran away - he only thought she didn't notice him.

After hearing her continue to ramble on, he felt concerned. He wondered how she was able to cope with the stress of keeping such a big secret from him and the abandoned Sapphire. He noticed she rarely talks to anyone in the house and from what he knew, she doesn't have many friends so she didn't have anyone to turn to.

"I'm not mad," he told her. "I frankly don't really care if you were seeing another Sapphire." hung open. She cheated on him and he doesn't care? He leaned back on his chair and continued. "Because really, I care more about the way you tried to handle that secret. How did you manage?"

"Uhm..." she didn't know what to say. Was he being sarcastic? "I just did?"

"That's what's wrong. You should have told someone. What's the point of keeping it to yourself for so long? You ended up giving me ten apologizes. I ran away, I found a Sapphire that could have replaced you, I used you to test our compatibility… You could have said that and just ended it. Why did you have to apologize?"

"Because I was sorry for using you."

"That's what Sapphires were made to do," he stated. "We are made to be used by humans. We are made to serve you and apologize to you, not the other way around."

She shook her head. "My family doesn't do that, so I don't do that. Jimin and Riley are my friends although we're not on good terms at the moment but so are you. We apologize when we find the need to. There's no rule that says Sapphires are slaves. You're part of the family and I'm sorry I have been neglecting you ever since you arrived. I wasn't sure how to act around you especially when I knew you were anxious to be registered. I'll do it tomorrow morning."

"If you register me, you can't register the other one."

"We were destined."

"Fate and destiny can lie. You don't know yet." Piyoon stared at him with slightly agape. He said that with such a straight face. He didn't say it from sympathy. He really meant it. "...you don't want me to register you?" she asked in surprise.

He shrugged. "I'm not saying that. It's just you shouldn't force yourself. You'll regret it. Also, you never know. You might be better off with that other Sapphire than with me. If fate really did give you two Sapphires, you need to choose carefully." Then, he got up, ending the conversation. "Let's go somewhere tomorrow. You're free, right?" She nodded slowly, still not understanding his reaction. "Then we'll go somewhere. I've only seen the backyard and front yard. So you better find somewhere nice to go as an apology."

Hearing him say that, she immediately felt sorry. She basically placed him under house arrest - he wasn't able to go anywhere safely without being registered. The whole month he was there, she neglected him because of exams. She nodded. "Goodnight, Suga. I'll see you tomorrow."